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Ducking

  • 17 October 2017
  • 48 replies
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48 replies

J
Userlevel 5
Badge +9
Oh 😞. Thanks for the additional info. I missed that earlier discussion. I assume that both disabling and deleting have been tried and have the same issue?

Disabling doesn't work at all which would solve it for now. I've had to delete the skill as a workaround 😃 which is a shame as it was really handy.
O
Same problem in our house. Talking to a remote Alexa ducks the entire multiroom system.

Here’s the weird thing: before a Sonos system I had a multiroom Alexa system set up. With this “poor man’s Sonos” only one Alexa would duck (the one I am talking to) while the others continue to play music at the normal level. So, it seems strange to me that a cheap multiroom system with Alexa’s works better than the premium Sonos system.
M
Userlevel 6
Badge +8
Has there been any progress on fixing ducking?
K
Really, really waiting for this fix.

My son has an Echo in his room which he uses to control music at night, read him things, make bodily noises, etc. It's physically locked in another room from where our sonos players are.

When he's in his room playing with Alexa, I can't listen to music. I had the Skill disabled for a while, but it really makes having purchased Sonos:Ones completely pointless, because then you can't voice control even that one device.
Chris
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
Sonos ones should not duck when another rooms alexa is utilized. When using Sonos One also it shouldn’t duck other rooms other than itself.

You can leave Sonos ones enabled and disable the others by going into alexa app and deleting from smart home the speakers you don’t want to utilize for voice control.
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K
Except it does.

Using an Echo (not a One) anywhere in the house mutes every non-Sonos:One speaker until Alexa has finished talking. In order to stop this, you have to disable the Sonos Skill in Alexa. If you disable the Sonos Skill in Alexa, than you can't control the One with voice commands because Alexa doesn't have permission to control the speaker.

You can temporarily forget a speaker, but Alexa automatically re-probes the network to identify devices periodically so they're rediscovered and the problem starts over again.

So, we have to either live with the ducking, or live with being unable to use voice commands on the devices we bought.
Chris
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
You don’t have to disable the skill.

Enable the skill.

Then go into alexa app. Go to smarthome section. Click on non-Sonos one speaker and hit the trash can top right to delete it. Delete all your non-Sonos one speakers this way. Now only the Sonos One speakers have the skill and others will not duck.
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Chris
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
Never noticed happening but I beleive you. Hopefully we see next release addressing very soon.
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I
Userlevel 4
Badge +1
Given that it's been months so far with no response from Sonos I'm not holding my breath.
J
Userlevel 3
Badge +4
With the proliferation of Alexa devices, this ducking has become a major annoyance. We have five Sonos zones including one Sonos One, two Echo Dots, and now an Ecobee Switch+ with Alexa. Our family room TV plays through a Sonos Connect:Amp. So if the kids are watching TV, and I ask the Swtich+ in the bedroom about the weather, the sound on the TV ducks. Very, very annoying. I understand that Alexa doesn't know where each Sonos is, so it just ducks them all. But it can't be that hard to group or link a Sonos zone to a specific Alexa device, so the ducking is tied to that device?
Chris
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
Not hard but requires pieces to be done at both Sonos and Amazon levels in order to provide functionality and the facilities to make that grouping. And they have said they are working on just that.
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M
Userlevel 2
Badge
If Sonos is contemplating fixing this, it needs to be flexible. I have five Sonos devices and four Echo devices across four rooms. Because Sonos won't allow streaming of SiriusXM to more than one group, I often have to re-group my Sonos devices, depending on where i need to listen. Really, there should be some association between an Echo device and a Sonos device (or devices) so that the concept of physical location is maintained, otherwise any solution would be useless to me, and I'd have to keep this skill disabled.
jgatie
If Sonos is contemplating fixing this, it needs to be flexible. I have five Sonos devices and four Echo devices across four rooms. Because Sonos won't allow streaming of SiriusXM to more than one group, I often have to re-group my Sonos devices, depending on where i need to listen. Really, there should be some association between an Echo device and a Sonos device (or devices) so that the concept of physical location is maintained, otherwise any solution would be useless to me, and I'd have to keep this skill disabled.

If it is anything like the other associated groups on the Alexa app, you should be able to assign an Echo device to a Sonos device (or devices) and only they will duck when Alexa is used on the Echo.
M
Userlevel 2
Badge
@jgatie:

Nope - doesn't work, but yes, you can group devices in "Groups". Has no effect on the ducking issue - talking to Alexa in the kitchen ducks Sonos in the bedroom. Thanks for pointing out the grouping, though. Will be useful if Sonos (or Amazon) ever fixes this.
jgatie
@jgatie:

Nope - doesn't work, but yes, you can group devices in "Groups". Has no effect on the ducking issue - talking to Alexa in the kitchen ducks Sonos in the bedroom. Thanks for pointing out the grouping, though. Will be useful if Sonos (or Amazon) ever fixes this.

I wasn't claiming that it would work now. I was just saying that is the mechanism by which Alexa assigns default devices to particular Echos now.
gavingks
Userlevel 2
Badge +1
Hi there, mwiseman. Thanks for checking in. No news to share regarding this just yet. In the meantime, be sure to keep current on Sonos Controller app updates!

I will be sure to update this thread with any new information as it becomes available.
Really would be useful. Cheers
M
Userlevel 6
Badge +8
Is ducking fixed?
W
Userlevel 2
Badge +1
Is ducking fixed?

Not that I've seen. And I've had ticket response as recently as today saying "We cannot inform on any work being doing in this regard, but I can setup your feedback as a feature request."

So I too am disabling the Alexa skill.

I have also posted reviews on several sites disclosing this. I think the only way we'll see movement here is if the community starts to reflect this in the reviews. Clearly after 9 months it's not a priority for Sonos and Amazon.
gtangjr
Count me in as someone who disabled Alexa integers tip. due to the ridiculous, music-hating, experience-killing ducking of the entire house no matter the purpose. I can't stand it, and it makes me feel like I wasted money buy going with a Sonos One (yes, there are other benefits -- you know, like the AirPlay 2 support that killed my lock screen controls).

Sonos was the amazing system for the rest of us, the ones that wanted something that sounded great and gave us the whole house experience in a manner that just worked. The more and more Sonos integrates with third parties beyond the music services themselves, the more compromises there are. It really bums me out.
G
Userlevel 2
Badge +5
It is bizarre that the skill was released with such an obvious flaw. A time frame to a fix would be nice, but that never seems to be sonos's way, worse than my industry (nuclear) at letting people know what's going on.

Probably need to badger Amazon as well, I'm sure they have a big part to play in the delay.
B
Userlevel 1
Badge
For those who missed the automation news, the new Sonos integration with IFTTT allows some voice control without using the direct Alexa integration and its horrible ducking problem. Using IFTTT to mix Alexa with Sonos is not nearly as flexible, but it's gotten my family a fair chunk of what we wanted from Alexa voice control of Sonos. Plus it supports some things the Alexa integration doesn't, like playing a Sonos Favorite consisting of music from your local collection.

See the recent item named "If This Then Sonos" in the Announcements category for more.
I
Userlevel 4
Badge +1
It's frankly disgusting that after nearly a year they can't fix this. Count me as another user for whom Sonos has dropped from being something I'd actively recommend to now a system I'd advise people to avoid.

And now Amazon have announced their sub option for Echo's, I hope Sonos lose out big time in sales as their products don't deserve to succeed currently.
M
Userlevel 6
Badge +8
Hi there, mwiseman. Thanks for checking in. No news to share regarding this just yet. In the meantime, be sure to keep current on Sonos Controller app updates!

I will be sure to update this thread with any new information as it becomes available.

I accidently accepted this answer. I don't think that this thread should be marked as answered yet.
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